Peace talks between feuding Aboriginal and Pacific Islander families at Logan south of Brisbane have ended with jokes, laughter and hand shakes all round.

After days of violent confrontations in suburban Woodridge, the two families - the Briggs and the Palaus - finally agreed to stop the violence after attending police-brokered peace talks on Tuesday night.

‘‘We’re going to have barbecues and games of football bringing this community together.’’

The Aboriginal and Tongan families, who live less than one kilometre apart, were once friends.

Their sons played touch football together at the local park. But a neighbourhood dispute over the vandalising of cars became a flashpoint for the simmering racial tensions between Aboriginal and Pacific Islanders in the satellite city south of Brisbane.

Anger boiled over in the early hours of Sunday morning when two separate car loads of Aboriginal and Pacific Islander men exchanged heated words at a set of traffic lights.

A confrontation followed at a local supermarket and then at Douglas Street, where it is understood a car owned by a member of the Palau family was damaged.

A group of islander men retaliated, smashing in the windows of three cars at the home of the Briggs family.

Rocks were hurled through the windows of the house as the Briggs family hid in a back room, and days of tensions followed.

Just hours after police held a press conference on Monday afternoon tensions flared again when up to 50 youths clashed, ripping palings off a fence to use as makeshift weapons.

Police managed to split the two groups and encourage a handshake between two men from each side about 7pm. But the truce was uneasy.

On Tuesday members of the families were involved in brief stand-offs. An Aboriginal man and a Pacific Islander man were arrested in the evening for obstructing police.

Police officers now plan to stay in the area until they are sure calm has returned.

Meanwhile, Logan Mayor Pam Parker hopes a two-day forum next month will resolve decades-old issues she believes are contributing to social problems in the city.

"We need to be looking at a wholistic approach. We have extremely high unemployment in Woodridge and it’s been inter-generational," Cr Parker said.

"That’s something we’d want to be looking at. We’ve got to use it as an opportunity to address issues that have been around for some 20-odd years ... through commitments at the state and federal level."

In the wake of the Woodridge violence and a fatal shooting in Sydney’s southwest, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has flagged a new national approach to deal with violence in suburban Australia.

Ms Gillard has asked Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare to investigate ways to address the violence and to explore the limits of the federal government’s legal and constitutional responsibilities.

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